PISCATAWAY – Quincy Douby is the leading scorer for Rutgers, but until yesterday he hadn’t always been a leader.

With three minutes remaining in a tie game against Louisville in the Rutgers Athletic Center, Douby showed a maturity that’s been missing. His steal of a David Padgett pass and Douby’s layup gave the Scarlet Knights a four-point lead.

He ripped down the rebound of Juan Palacios’ missed jump hook then swished three of four free throws to secure a desperately needed 65-56 Rutgers win.

“I think his head is into it,” television analyst and former NBA player Len Elmore said. “I think his focus is on winning as opposed to merely scoring. Over the last couple of games he’s also getting people involved. It all begins with the team leader. It can be great to talk about, ‘I average 23 points per game.’ But in the end, it’s even better to talk about how many Ws you have.”

Douby entered the game as the nation’s 10th leading scorer, averaging 23.3 points. But the Scarlet Knights (13-7 overall, 3-4 Big East) had lost three straight in the RAC and overall. In an 84-78 overtime loss to Villanova here, Douby scored 28 points but got so caught up in the emotion of the game he made some terrible decisions.

Yesterday, the Brooklyn native stayed in the flow of the game and the results were impressive. He had seven rebounds to go along with a game-high 19 points, two assists and one steal. He became the 15th Rutgers player to surpass the career 1,300-point mark (1,307).

“I’m more than just a scorer,” Douby said. “If it’s not going down I’m going to find other things to do.”

Which is exactly what coach Gary Waters asked of his star junior Friday after practice. The Scarlet Knights were reeling after a 79-69 home loss to Providence.

“I pulled [Quincy] aside and I said, you have to lead this team,” Waters said. “You have to be here to lead this team on that floor. You are the one who can do that.”

Douby led Rutgers to a 16-point first-half lead and a 39-28 lead at intermission. The Cardinals (14-6, 2-5) surged back to take a 52-51 lead, and it was 56-56 with 3:02 left.

But this clearly is not the Louisville team that went to the Final Four last season.